


Not Again

by MEOW_I_am_a_cat



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: AU, M/M, Phan - Freeform, Phanfiction, Soulmates, Soulmates AU, timeloop
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-15
Updated: 2015-06-27
Packaged: 2018-03-23 03:13:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 2,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3752311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MEOW_I_am_a_cat/pseuds/MEOW_I_am_a_cat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Dan never met Phil? What if he never saw a single AmazingPhil video? What if there were never any Skype calls? No “HELLO INTERNET” video? No channel on YouTube with the name “danisnotonfire”? No “Phil Is Not On Fire”s? What if Dan had gone to University to study law, but never dropped out? Would they still meet? Would they still become friends? Would they become more than friends?<br/>Soulmates AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Cycle One

**Author's Note:**

> So apparently this is basically Groundhog Day but with Phan... (idk, at least according to my dad and brother who I asked, as I've never seen the movie). But so to maintain clarity on what's a new cycle, each new time-loop will be a new chapter. Of course, this will result in chapters of greatly varying lengths, ranging from the current shortest of 38 words (yes, seriously. That's cycle two) to cycles split up into multiple parts, once we get to the longer time lines and they figure out what's going on. So just because this first one's actual chapter is half as long as the author's note and just one paragraph, doesn't mean that'll be the same for ever chapter.  
> So, for your reference, this starts at ~2010-2011, while Dan's still at Uni, and it's all in Dan's POV (unless otherwise stated, but I doubt that'll happen). Get ready for some déjà vu yourself and a lot of repetitiveness, and enjoy!

I walk down the busy street, narrowly avoiding crashing into anyone. I look down at my watch to check my time, and increase my speed. At the rate I’m walking, I’ll be late for my bus. Thank God I’m nearly to the stop, and I can see the bus approaching. I race to the stop, and hop on when the doors open.


	2. Cycle Two

I walk down the busy street, narrowly avoiding crashing into anyone. I look down at my watch for a moment, and someone bumps my shoulder.

“Watch where you’re going, asshole!” I shout behind me, hurrying on my way.


	3. Cycle Three

I walk down the busy street, narrowly avoiding crashing into anyone. I swerve out of the way of a woman walking in the opposite direction. I trip, and land face-first on the hard sidewalk.

“Watch where you’re going,” a voice behind me says. Why do I feel like I’ve heard that before?

I look back. “Don’t stop in the middle of the sidewalk, then, asshole,” I retort, then continue on my way.


	4. Cycle Four

I walk down the busy street, narrowly avoiding crashing into anyone. I look down at my watch to check the time. Wait. Have I done that already?

I walk into a man, and the hand holding my morning coffee is jarred into me. The hot liquid spills over my chest. “You have got to be kidding me!” I scream. “Fuck you, asshole!” I drop the cup, not really caring about littering, and march on, hoping I’ll be able to change my shirt before any meetings.


	5. Cycle Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for all the positive feedback so far! Having posted this on Wattpad previously, this is so much better tbh, considering this only has 14 reads and literally nothing else over there.

I walk down the busy street, narrowly avoiding crashing into anyone. I look down at my watch to check the time.

I walk into a man, and the hand holding my morning coffee is jarred into me. The hot liquid spills over my chest. “You have _got_ to be _kidding_ me!” I shout. “Fuck you, asshole!” I drop the cup, not really caring about littering, and march on, hoping I’ll be able to change my shirt before any meetings.

He stops for a second, like what I’m saying confuses him. Maybe he doesn’t speak English?

“Comprende?” I try for Spanish.

“What?”

“Forget it. Just watch where you’re going, asshole.”

He frowns again.

“What?” I demand.

He shakes his head. “Nothing. Sorry.”


	6. Cycle Six

I walk down the busy street, narrowly avoiding crashing into anyone. I look down at my watch to check the time.

I walk into a man, and the hand holding my morning coffee is jarred into me. The hot liquid spills over my chest. “You have _got_ to be _kidding_ me!” I scream. “Fuck you, asshole!” I drop the cup, not really caring about littering, and march on, hoping I’ll be able to change my shirt before any meetings.

He stops for a second, like what I’m saying confuses him. Maybe he doesn’t speak English?

“Comprende?” I try for Spanish.

“What?”

“Forget it. Just watch where you’re going, asshole.”

He frowns again.

“What?” I demand.

He’s about to shake his head, but apparently decides not to. “Are you getting a feeling of déjà vu?”

“Why?”

“Nevermind.”

He walks off, leaving me in the middle of the sidewalk.


	7. Cycle Seven

I walk down the busy street, narrowly avoiding crashing into anyone. I look down at my watch to check the time.

I walk into a man, and the hand holding my morning coffee is jarred into me. The hot liquid spills over my chest. “You have _got_ to be _kidding_ me!” I scream. “Fuck you, asshole!” I drop the cup, not really caring about littering, and march on, hoping I’ll be able to change my shirt before any meetings.

He stops for a second, like what I’m saying confuses him. Maybe he doesn’t speak English?

“Comprende?” I try for Spanish.

“What?”

“Forget it. Just watch where you’re going, asshole.”

He frowns again.

“What?” I demand.

He’s about to shake his head, but apparently decides not to. “Are you getting a feeling of déjà vu?”

Maybe a bit... “Why?”

“Nevermind. Here, there’s a Starbucks around the corner. Let me buy you a replacement drink.”

“No, thanks. I’m already going to be late for work.”


	8. Cycle 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry I'm trash I'm incapable of updating anything

I walk down the busy street, narrowly avoiding crashing into anyone. I look down at my watch to check the time.

I walk into a man, and the hand holding my morning coffee is jarred into me. The hot liquid spills over my chest. “You have _got_ to be _kidding_ me!” I scream. “Fuck you, asshole!” I drop the cup, not really caring about littering, and march on, hoping I’ll be able to change my shirt before any meetings.

He stops for a second, like what I’m saying confuses him. Maybe he doesn’t speak English?

“Comprende?” I try for Spanish.

“What?”

“Forget it. Just watch where you’re going, asshole.”

He frowns again.

“What?” I demand.

He’s about to shake his head, but apparently decides not to. “Are you getting a feeling of déjà vu?”

Maybe a bit... Okay, a lot, at this point. “Why?”

“Nevermind. Here, there’s a Starbucks around the corner. Let me buy you a replacement drink.”

I pause and think. People bustle past us, tutting at the two dicks who decided to stop walking and have a conversation in the middle of the sidewalk. Why do I feel so déjà vu-y about this?

“Have we met before?” I ask.

“I doubt it,” he replies. “C’mon, I don’t think we should have this conversation right here. Take me up on the Starbucks offer?”

I look at my watch again. Fuck it, I’m already late. I’ll just call in sick or something. It’s not like it’s an actual job, just a stupid internship. I don’t even want to be a lawyer.

I shrug my shoulders. “Sure, why not.”

When we get to the coffee shop, it’s crowded with business men waiting to get their morning cups.

“Go sit down, I’ll order for you. What do you want?”

“Caramel Macchiato,” I choose my usual drink.

“And your name?”

“Dan.”

He gets in line, and I find a seat in the corner. I try to sort out my stained shirt, and still am when he returns and a cup is set in front of me.

“So you had a sense of déjà vu there, too?”

“Yeah, a little, but that’s just bullshit. It’s just your brain trying to come up with some sort of memory because it thinks it should remember the situation.” I remember reading that on the internet somewhere. Maybe it’s wrong, but it makes sense.

“But don’t you... I dunno, find it weird? That we both get the feeling at the same time?”

“Coincidences are a thing, guy-I-don’t-know-the-name-of.”

“Phil,” he supplies. “But still. I saw this theory somewhere, and it’s kind of stupid, but déjà vu comes from, like, past lives or something. And it happened then, so you vaguely remember it now, but not really.”

“What are you saying?”

“Do you believe in fate?”

“Not especially. Why? What does that have to do with anything?”

“Well, I do. And if we met in a past life, maybe we’re supposed to meet again.”

“What does _that_ have to do with anything?” I repeat, growing more and more impatient as this conversation goes on. I’m skipping work for _this_?

“That’s why we felt like it had happened before. Because it _had_. We’re supposed to meet, and, I dunno, talk to each other or something. And we couldn’t get it right. But this time we did?”

“Great, we fulfilled fate,” I snap. “Glad that’s off my agenda for today.”

I grab my coffee and walk out of the Starbucks. I zip up my jacket to cover the coffee stain from earlier and hope I’m not so late I’ll be fired from a job I don’t technically have yet.


	9. Cycle 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SORRY I'M A PIECE OF SHIT THANK YOU ALL FOR DEALING WITH ME AND MY SHITTY SPORADIC UPDATE SCHEDULES

“That’s why we felt like it had happened before. Because it _had_. We’re supposed to meet, and, I dunno, talk to each other or something. And we couldn’t get it right. But this time we did?”

Wait. Did he say that already? Has _this_ happened yet?

“Um...” is all I say. “So are we supposed to get to know each other then?” I’m not sure what exactly I must have done last time, but I kind of want to leave, so that must be wrong. Or is my intuition what I’m supposed to do? Well, it hasn’t restarted yet, so this must be right. Right? Or has it restarted? Well it has, but has it again?

“I dunno, maybe. It seems to be the thing that’s working so far, doesn’t it?”

“I guess... So, um, what do you do, then?”

“Oh, I just make YouTube videos. It’s nothing, really, they’re not special or anything. It’s just something I like to do.”

“That sounds way more fun than being a goddamn lawyer. It’s so boring and shitty. I don’t even want to do it. I just had to study something. Law seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“You don’t seem like the law type,” he comments.

“Probably because I’m not,” I reply. “I’m supposed to be at some internship right now.”

“But maybe you’re not _meant_ to be there.” He smirks at me, and I roll my eyes.

“Yeah, sure. Maybe. At least you’re more interesting than paperwork.”

“Of course I am. If I weren’t, you’d have left already.”

“Nah, I’m getting fired anyway. This way is just better than wandering around Manchester, or actually going to work. It’s not like I had anything else to do today. At least until, like, three, or something.”

“Well, I’ve still got things to do. It was nice meeting you, Dan.”

“You too. Good luck with the YouTube thing.”

“Good luck with the lawyer thing.”

He stands up to leave, and I watch him go.


	10. Cycle 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HERE HAVE TWO CHAPTERS TODAY I'M SORRY  
> (I'll do chapter 11 tomorrow and then hopefully at some point 12-18 at once (or just 13-18 idk yet) so expect just a SHITLOAD OF CHAPTERS AT ONCE LOOK AT HOW SHITTY I AM but then I have like one upload consisting of just one chapter, too, but it might be a longer one for once idk it's not finished yet but I'm sorry I have a bad habit of writing really short chapters for things and the style of this story doesn't really help I'm so sorry I'm a piece of shit I am literally trash)

“Well, I’ve still got things to do. It was nice meeting you, Dan.”

“You too. Good luck with the YouTube thing.”

“Good luck with the lawyer thing.”

He stands up to leave, but stops and doubles back.

“Has this happened before?” he asks.

I’m tempted to roll my eyes and give a sarcastic answer, but resist the urge.

“Um... I think so?” I answer.

He furrows his eyebrows for a moment, trying to remember something that never technically happened.

“Did I leave?”

“Well since I’m pretty sure that this conversation was over long before now, I think it’s safe to say you did.”

“Yeah, probably. I’ve still got to run, so...”

“Oh, no worries, go ahead,” I reply with an awkward smile.

“Here, let me... Let me give you my number.”

“Er, no, that’s... That won’t be necessary.”

“Oh, okay then. I’ll just... I’ll just be going now.”

He shuffles out the door, his half-empty coffee cup in his hand.


	11. Cycle Eleven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know, this is, like, three days late but I was going to and then I had to clean my room and then I was at my friend's house from like 2 on thursday to 4 yesterday afternoon and I slept until noon today and had to go shopping to find stuff for cosplays ok I'm sorry I'm trash

“Here, let me... Let me give you my number.”

This has definitely happened before. I’m sure of it this time. But what did I say last time that made it reset? Or was it what I said? It had to be, didn’t it? Otherwise we wouldn’t be back to this point. Right?

Anyway, what had I said? I rack my brain once more, searching for memories that are not there. But I can’t figure it out, so I turn to a different method.

What would make sense? Turning him down? Or furthering this possible friendship? Of course, Fate or whoever or whatever is doing this have been pushing us together. But that doesn’t mean it’s meant to go further. Like Phil said, we’re supposed to meet and talk to each other and shit. But that doesn’t mean exchanging phone numbers. It just means... talking. It’s not like we’re automatically best friends just because he ran into me on the street and bought me a Starbucks drink.

_ Just get the damn number _ , I think to myself.  _ It can’t hurt. It’s just a number. It’s not going to kill you. You don’t have to give yours back. You don’t have to use it. _

“Yeah, sure,” I reply, faking a smile.

He takes a pen from his pocket and scribbles a series of numbers onto my cup.

“Thanks,” I mutter as he hands the paper cup back to me.

“I’ll... see you around, then?”

_ No _ . “Yeah.”  _ We’ll probably never see each other again. _ “ See you around.”

Once he’s out the door, I chug the remainder of my coffee and toss the cup into the closest trash can.

  
  
  


 


End file.
